Friday, September 16, 2011

Time Spiral - Chapter 4

Skyshroud is a forest completely out of its element. It rests in a valley in the center of Keld. A perfect circle of life amidst the lifeless surrounding rock and snow. There is no mistaking the boundary between Keld and Skyshroud. The trees are different, the air is different, and even the dirt is clearly not the same. Freyalise uses a portion of her power to protect her forest from the harsh Keldon environment beyond its borders.

Teferi sees what she's done and thinks he can improve on her technique, and it clearly needs improving. The distortion above the forest made is abundantly clear. Despite the amount of finesse the planeswalker had used, the final step still required brute force which resulted in the distortion. At least he's discovered the reason for the lack of mana within the land. Streams of both green and red mana flow from the land right into the rift.

Jhoira and the Shivans climb down into the valley while Teferi takes his time trying to learn all he can. He floats on down tells Jhoira that he just needs to get a bit further in to take a closer look, then they'll be done here and be in Shiv in no time.

Teferi calls them to gather close and he waves his staff in a wide circle above them. They float above the ground and start zooming into the forest. Jhoira glares and him as asks why they didn't do that earlier and he says he's been taking things slowly, trying to explore the limits of what he can, or should, do.

They stop close to the rift, and Teferi notices a softer feel to it than the one he saw earlier. Perhaps because the rift was older? He isn't here to fix this particular rift, but it's something to keep in mind.

Then he notices the elves. Skyshroud elves from what he can tell, although they are leaner with a sickly greyish tinge to blue skin that he doesn't remember. The look is strange enough that Skive asks if they're still alive or if it's zombie elves they face.

One of the elves steps forward and announces himself to be the chieftan Llanach. He's here to reinforce Freyalise's sentiments that they're not wanted. They must leave.

Teferi can easily take them all out himself, or can defend his own people from any harm, but if he intervenes then so will Freyalise, and things will escalate into an all out duel between the two planeswalkers. That path leads nowhere. Unfortunately neither do words. Try as he might to reason with the elf, it's clear he won't budge. Then possible solution comes from an outside source.

The large blast from a colos horn announces the return of the Keldons. This time with warlord to organize their chaos and harness their ferocity. Thirty Keldon berserkers charge from the hilltop, with twice that many held in reserve. Llanach makes the only decision he can after Teferi makes it clear they will not leave and orders the elves to attack only the Keldons as long as the Shivans don't get in the way.

With the combined force of Teferi's people and the elves, it's clear to him that they'll be able to handle at least the first wave of the attack, and so he leaves knowing he can take this time to study the rift. When he done, if he helps to remove the Keldons, maybe Freyalise will be more willing to help him in his cause.

Not likely, Freyalise's voice said, nor even possible.

Freyalise materializes before him, and Teferi screams in agony. The rift widens and a blast of energy tears through the Keldon sky and the planeswalkers.

* * *

Magic

I had that big commentary about limiting the planeswalker's power, and what does Teferi do the next chapter? He uses magic. It does make sense though. And stripping him of all magic would remove much of his identity as a planeswalker, so the slow approach to exploring what he can and can't do is a good one. In the end, we know things will change for all planeswalkers. This is their last hurrah so it's time to use those muscles before they're gone.

Freyalise, the Recluse

I bet she revists her stance on not helping out Teferi figure out what's going on after this rift side effect... either that or she thinks it's some attack of his and/or she blames him for what's going on and wants him out of her forest all the sooner. Either way we'll find out soon enough.